Sumi-e Artists of Canada

Teapot and Narcissus with Po Man Chan - February 10th, 2018

The teapot is a staple figure in oriental painting. Paintings with a teapot also feature cups, vases and flowers.
Po Man Chan began her workshop on this composition by sketching the proportions of a teapot.

In a painting with a teapot and vase, think about the size of the teapot relative to the vase.

The teapot and cups are secondary to the vase. This arrangement of the teapot, cups and vase
and their size relative to each other is an exercise in composition.

Add decoration to your teapot with a design. Remember to make lines on a teapot
in a curve.

Then it was our turn to work on vases and teapots.
Adding colour makes a vase and its decoration stand out in the painting.

Po Man Chan began a painting on the accompanying flower: the narcissus.
This flower is often given at the start of the Chinese new year.
The narcissus, daffodils and paperwhites are related plants.

When you draw the blades of the plant in strong, straight strokes, leave space for the flowers Po Man Chan reminded the artists.

In the centre of the petals are tepals that are almost an orange in colour.

To make the blades of your plant realistic, Po Man Chan suggested using a different
shade of green for different blades when filling the brush. This means mixing your green paint with other colours like yellow.

The result is a lifelike set of shades of green as you would see on a real plant.

The narcissus has six petals to each flower and the petals have a pointed end.

When painting these plants in a bowl, create the bulbs first and then have the blades come out from
the bulbs.

Remember to leave space for the flowers you will add among the blades.

Then begin filling in the spaces with the petals.

Po Man Chan added stems to the flowers. The flowers are on stems; the flowers do not come from the green blades.

As demonstrated previously, Po Man Chan used different shades of green blades to create a more vibrant plant.

To create the effect of roundness on the bowl, shade one side of the bowl.

Then add shading to the other side of the bowl, leaving the centre white.

Po Man Chan added more blades including folded blades.

The two paintings are held by Po Man Chan.

The artists created their own narcissus with Po Man Chan's coaching help.